Asymm Project
Introduction Asymm Project is a Malaysian cycling team. It was born in January the 4th of 2011, and is arguably one of the most important Asian teams of the OCM. It started to become well-known because of having a very active manager, Holger Czukay, but the feat that skyrocketed the team's popularity was the victory of Aksana Putin in Volta ao Porto of season 18. The team principals are Holger Czukay itself, who also serves as National Manager of Malaysia since the beginning of this National Team, and the Mysterious Lady, from which not a lot of information is available. History Asymm Project started in season 15 as a regional Malaysian team rooted in Port Dickson and directed by Spaniard Holger Czukay, an extravagant well-known businessman of the city. The team took local star Mohn Hafiz Aziz as captain. The rider, who had no previous experience in international racing, promptly started to score, and together with the young rising star Subramanian Lee, helped the team move quickly up in the ranks. At the end of that same season, the team was already among the 200 best teams in the world, in what was one of the quickest ascents ever seen in OCM. However, the level of racing in the upper divisions proved too much for the team, and it became stagnant. The first big signing of Asymm Project was Sin Kiat Safiq Rahim, until then a loyal teammate of all-time OCM star Salim Wajeeh, who was able to keep the team steadily climbing in the ranks, although underperforming for the most part of his stay in the team. His most important result was a 7th place in the initial edition of Race of the Minutemen. By that time, Malaysia earned a place in the World Tour together with South Africa (then managed by Grant Pedler of Rigana) and Andorra (managed by jirion of Eixample ATH, that now rides under the Spanish flag). Holger Czukay took the command of the National Team, and has keeped it since. In season 16, due to the aforementioned repeated underperformances of the Malay Safiq Rahim, the team managed to sign the Russian star Aksana Putin, who was already aging and came relatively cheaply (but expensive for the team's economy) because of being a famous underperformer. However, his luck seemed to change as he started scoring regularly. He got a podium spot finishing third at Race of the Minutemen, where he got a victory in the iconic Mt. Washington stage. At the start of season 18, Asymm Project sneaked into Zyte Division just in time to sign up for Volta ao Porto, where Aksana Putin surprised the field by taking the overall victory. It seemed done for Chris Bauwens, who was the best in the mountains, but Putin won the ninth stage TT in Porto and climbed to the lead with only 12 seconds over Stilwell and 17 over Bauwens, who went to win the next edition. That same year Putin repeated his third place in Race of the Minutemen, and the team finished high on the Zyte Division classification. Aksana Putin left the team in season 19 to allow the entrance of Moises Bricenos, a Venezuelan youngster that would remain in the team until season 25. Also that season, the team decided to forget about cobbles (where Subramaniam Lee had been the captain) and instead focused on sprints with the signing of Japanese star Susumu Miyazaki. With the two captains, the team stayed in Zyte Division until season 21, scoring steadily with the classic results of 2nd in Ainet - Bruggen (Bricenos) and 5th in Mito Tokyo (a career's best in his home country's most important race for Miyazaki) as highlights. The team has developed an Asian approach trying to foster riders from this continent, being the intention keeping only riders from this part of the world, but this has only been achieved for short periods of time usually. At the end of season 21, the opportunity of signing an Asian climber almost kicked Bricenos out of the team, but the final move was the signing of You Xiang, a cobbler from Hong Kong, while Susumu Miyazaki left the team searching for some lower divisions pelotons to enjoy before retiring. The difficulty of ensuring the Asian Project has always been a constant, as shows the signing of Viljo Teravainen (from Finland) as helper and co-captain in the cobbles. The ascension to Top Division only came in season 22 (which the team would end on 27th place of the ranks). The team started in the division with great success, winning the Astana GP classic with Teravainen while Xiang was recharging top form. However, this is the only classic win of Asymm Project to date. In this moment, the team started an intensive Asian Scouting Program which yielded a couple of Philippinean riders (Edward Delicano and Arniel Sulemianen), which were trained with success. As of season 24, the team consisted of the following leaders: Bricenos in the mountains, Delicano in the descents, hills and all 3, and Xiang in the cobbles. The combination proved a success, as the team ended the season as 11th of Top Division, and even came to lead the season's ranks for some days around day 30 of the season. The end of the season meant big team changes, trying to complete the Asian approach: Bricenos was finally sold, and four of the cobblers, that weren't Asians, had the same luck. The move funded the incorporation of Anousone Keovilay, the Laotian star, in what was the most expensive deal ever done by Asymm Project: $700,000 were paid to Vientiane Cycling. This set of deals achieved the long-time pursued goal of being 100% Asian, but that changed soon after new incorporations were made. However, the team stands as mainly Asian and signs foreign riders only as provisional roster fillings. The unbroken rule (since the training around season 21 of Dane Oluf Petersson) is training only Asian riders. The team has had training facilities in Turkmenistan for most of its existence, but decided to train mainly in Malaysia. However, in recent times, the riders use to spend some time in Brno, Czech Republic, where the Mysterious Lady resides from season 25 (and maybe until season 30). The Mysterious Lady has been a strange entity in the team, often cited as co-manager. She is said to have participated in the signings of Susumu Miyazaki and Moises Bricenos among others, while hers was the decision of training Subramaniam Lee. Some other journalists go as far as saying that she became the only manager of the team during the end of season 20 and the start of the 21st. However, very few details are known about her, so none of these things have ever been completely confirmed. Former Jerseys AsymmProject1.png|Season 15-20 AsymmProject2.png|Season 21-24 Core Riders *Anousone Keovilay(Laos) *Arniel Sulemianen (Philippines) *Chandu Roy Venu (India) *Edward Delicano (Philippines) *Sabri Ugur (Turkey) *Sava Tamirov (Azerbaijan) *Umut Metin (Turkey) *You Xiang(Hong Kong) Notable Former Riders : Captains *Aksana Putin (Russia) *Arfan Husain (Iraq) *Moises Bricenos (Venezuela) *Susumu Miyazaki (Japan) *Viljo Teravainen (Finland) *Sin Kiat Safiq Rahim (Malaysia) *Mohn Hafiz Aziz (Malaysia) *Subramaniam Lee (Malaysia) : ''''Team mates *Zhou Dong (China) *Zhuo Xun (China) Notable Results As of Day 78, Season 25, these are the most notable results by Asymm Project: : Tours :General Classification *1st: Volta ao Porto #8, Aksana Putin *3rd: Race of the Minutemen #2 , Aksana Putin *3rd: Race of the Minutemen #3 , Aksana Putin *5th: Vuelta de los Castillos #6 , Arfan Husain *6th: Germany Tour #23, Edward Delicano *7th: Vuelta de los Castillos #8 , Anousone Keovilay *7th: Race of the Minutemen #1 , Sin Kiat Safiq Rahim *8th: Tweedaagse van Antwerpen #12, You Xiang *8th: Volta ao Porto #9, Aksana Putin :Stages *1st: Race of the Minutemen #3 - Stage 5, Aksana Putin *1st: Volta ao Porto #8 - Stage 9, Aksana Putin *2nd: Race of the Minutemen #2 - Stage 4, Aksana Putin *2nd: Volta ao Porto #8 - Stage 5, Aksana Putin *2nd: Volta ao Porto #9 - Stage 7, Aksana Putin *3rd: Race of the Minutemen #3 - Stage 3, Aksana Putin *3rd: Volta ao Porto #9 - Stage 6, Aksana Putin : : Classics *1st: Astana GP #22 (Div 1), Viljo Teravainen *2nd: Critérium La Provence #28 (Div 1), Anousone Keovilay *3rd: Ainet - Bruggen #22 (Div 2), Moises Bricenos *3rd: Roubaix Classic #22 (Div 1), You Xiang *4th: Antwerpen - Huy #24 (Div 1), You Xiang *5th: Ainet - Bruggen #20 (Div 2), Moises Bricenos *5th: Mito - Tokyo #21 (Div 2), Susumu Miyazaki *6th: Ainet - Bruggen #19 (Div 2), Sava Tamirov *6th: Ainet - Bruggen #21 (Div 2), Moises Bricenos *6th: Alpe d'Huez Classic #22 (Div 1), Moises Bricenos *7th: Minsk CBGP #19 (Div 2), You Xiang *8th: Ainet - Bruggen #24 (Div 2), Moises Bricenos *9th: Antwerpen - Huy #22 (Div 1), Viljo Teravainen *9th: Critérium La Provence #25 (Div 1), Arfan Husain *9th: Roubaix Classic #24 (Div 1), You Xiang : Single Day Races *Div 1: All results since the start: Links﻿ *OCM Team Page Category:Teams Category:Malaysia